Mesh to Solid
AVC_MeshToSolid plugin for AutoCAD and BricsCAD
Convert Polyface Meshes and regular Meshes to 3D Solids. Connecting of meshes.
And command for explode the mesh on the line.
If you often come across dwg files exported from visualization programs like 3Ds Max or SketchUp, then you have certainly noticed that the 3D models in these files are not 3D-solids, but polygonal meshes. Meshes are also created by some furniture programs/add-ons, for example SwissAllCad, ABF. Often, so-called Polyface Meshes or PolygonMeshes are found there, which have not been used in dwg for several decades. No commands work with these strange meshes. This wretched legacy of ancient times cannot be measured (snaps do not work), cannot be converted to something normal. You cannot even explode it.
The same problem is presented by models imported from Acis or SAT files. In them, you will find objects of the "Body" type, not solids. Nothing can be done with these objects either.
But now you have a tool that will solve this problem. The MeshToSolid command works with both ancient PolyFaceMesh /PolygonMesh and normal meshes. It will allow you to assemble a solid from mesh fragments or individual faces (3D Face). And if that doesn't work, then at least convert them into normal Mesh (sometimes called SubDMesh).
The program for creating new blocks from old ones, AsmNew, can call MeshToSolid. You can create dynamic blocks with meshes. Meshes, unlike solids, can be stretched in dynamic blocks. This way your wall sections, drawers, exhibition construction systems (Octanorm) can be easily customized with the parameters of dynamic blocks. But in order to further use details from these blocks in AVC plugins, you will need to convert all meshes into solids. The AsmNew command will do this conversion at the same time as creating a new assembly from the former dynamic block.
As a last resort, you now also have a mesh explosion program that converts any meshes into lines in one click. Now you can at least measure this architectural sketch normally in order to build a complete solid model.
Capabilities:
Convert PolyfaceMesh and PolygonMesh to Mesh
Glue scattered pieces of meshes into one closed mesh
Convert closed meshes to 3D solid
Convert 'Body' object (Acis, SAT) to 3d solid
Converts polylines and circles to solids if they have a pseudo 3D property Thickness.
Assembles solids from 3D Face type polygons.
Replace meshes with solids inside blocks.
Mesh properties (layer, color ...) are transferred to the new solid / lines
Transfer the colors and materials of meshes or individual polygons to the corresponding solid face (this option must be enabled in the settings).
The MeshExplode command explode PolyfaceMesh, PolygonMesh and 3D Face on Lines
Meshes can be selected before calling commands
You can handle many meshes once.
Meshes with more than 10,000 faces are not processed as this can obscure AutoCAD | BricsCAD. But this figure can be adjusted.
Read about downloading and installing the program here.
To run the plugin, you will have to register account and top up your account balance or receiving bonuses.
Then you can activate one of the licenses:
Annual license - 10 EUR.
Unlimited license - 50 EUR. Free updates for 1 year.
The trial period is 20 days.
The MeshToSolid and MeshExplode commands is included in the collections A>V>C> Kit and A>V>C> Pro.
MeshToSolid command
The command of converting Polyface Meshes, Polygon Meshes, regular Meshes (SubDMesh object) , 'Body'-objects, 3D Faces objects and some 2D-curves to 3D-Solids. AutoCAD | BricsCAD has a built-in ConvToSolid command, but it rarely works with Meshes and never works with Polyface meshes. A>V>C> MeshToSolid command works much more often and faster, but also not always.
To convert a mesh to a solid, you need the mesh should completely enclose the volume, without holes or breaks.
To convert a closed polyline or circle into a solid you must first set the Thickness property to greater or less than 0.
All Polyface and Polygon meshes are immediately converted to Mesh, even if they could not be converted to solid.
If many meshes are selected at once and some of them are not closed, then the program will try to combine these meshes into one and convert them into a solid.
You can select and transform multiple meshes at once. In this case, unsuccessful mehses (failed to make solid) will be colored red.
If you select blocks, the program will check if they contain meshes. Nested blocks are also checked. The program only works with explodable non-annotative blocks.
The number of received solids is displayed on the command line.
Meshes with more than 10,000 faces are not processed as this can obscure AutoCAD | BricsCAD. But this figure can be adjusted.
Optimization of the number of solid faces in this program is disabled by default. Therefore, rectangular faces will be composed of multiple triangles. You can enable optimization in the settings, but with optimization enabled the conversion often does not work. There have been cases where conversion with optimization has caused AutoCAD fatal errors.
The program can save the color and material of the meshes and their individual polygons and apply it to the solid faces. Finding face matches is a time-consuming process, so this feature is disabled by default.
MeshExplode command
Command to explode Polyface Meshes, Polygon Meshes and regular Meshes on lines. The usual _Explode command does not work with Polyface and Polygon Meshes. You can also explode ordinary meshes and 3D-Face objects. You can select and explode many mehses at once.
Meshes can be selected before calling the command or after.
Mesh properties (layer, color ...) are transferred to the lines.
Meshes with more than 10,000 faces are not processed as this can obscure AutoCAD | BricsCAD. But this figure can be adjusted.
Setting up
To configure the program, open the AVC Settings Palette using the AVСOptions command and select the Mesh To Solid tab.
Acceptable mesh complexity - The number of polygons in the mesh, more than which the mesh will not be processed in AVC commands. The setting works in the MeshToSilid, MeshExplode and Flat commands. Too complex meshes will take hours to process, and the solids obtained from them are not suitable for further work. You can assign 0 so that all meshes are processed (and kill AutoCAD). Remember that you are working in a solid modeling program and it cannot handle the crazy meshes from the Internet and from 3DS Max.
Saving Face Materials - Find polygons on the mesh with your own color or material and try to assign these materials to solid faces. Finding matches between mesh polygons and solid faces is a very complex and time-consuming procedure. Therefore, enable this option only if you actually assign colors and materials to some polygons.
Optimize solids - Glue mesh polygons into one solid plane to simplify the solid structure. Without optimization, the NC Preparation program will not be able to correctly construct the contours of the part for CNC. But by default, the option is disabled, because when optimization is enabled, AutoCAD often refuses to convert the mesh to solid. And there have been cases of AutoCAD crashing fatally.
